Interstellar Empire #2020

Interstellar Empire By John Brunner Interstellar Empire Interstellar Empire collects The Altar on Asconcel The Man from the Big Dark The Wanton of Argus The Space Time Juggler Interstellar Empire is a fixup of a novella two short stories published in

Title: Interstellar Empire

Author: John Brunner

ISBN: 9780099388708

Page: 480

Format: Mass Market Paperback

Interstellar Empire By John Brunner

Interstellar Empire By John Brunner Interstellar Empire collects The Altar on Asconcel, The Man from the Big Dark, The Wanton of Argus The Space Time Juggler Interstellar Empire is a fixup of a novella two short stories published in 76 In his introduction, Brunner explains he wanted to write sword spaceship stories To do so, he had humanity find a huge cache of warehoused spaceships left behiInterstellar Empire collects The Altar on Asconcel, The Man from the Big Dark, The Wanton of Argus The Space Time Juggler Interstellar Empire is a fixup of a novella two short stories published in 76 In his introduction, Brunner explains he wanted to write sword spaceship stories To do so, he had humanity find a huge cache of warehoused spaceships left behind by an earlier race Thus they could have top notch space travel without the technological development required to invent it The stories are also set in the waning days of a vast interstellar empire that is crumbling badly, so that some planets are still firmly under imperial control, some are struggling to stay that way others have gone their own way The novella, The Altar on Asconel, concerns three brothers who join forces to try to liberate their home planet after it s been taken over by cultists from the far reaches of space The 3nd story, The Man From the Big Dark, concerns the efforts of one man to warn a planet that they re about to be invaded by space pirates The 3rd story, The Wanton of Argus, involves a struggle over who shall become regent for a young king after his father s death It has a surprising twist at the end involving a time traveler who wants to make sure things turn out right Gail O Connor edited

About “John Brunner”

John Brunner

John Brunner was born in Preston Crowmarsh, near Wallingford in Oxfordshire, and went to school at St Andrew s Prep School, Pangbourne, then to Cheltenham College He wrote his first novel, Galactic Storm, at 17, and published it under the pen name Gill Hunt, but he did not start writing full time until 1958 He served as an officer in the Royal Air Force from 1953 to 1955, and married Marjorie Rosamond Sauer on 12 July 1958At the beginning of his writing career Brunner wrote conventional space opera pulp science fiction Brunner later began to experiment with the novel form His 1968 novel Stand on Zanzibar exploits the fragmented organizational style John Dos Passos invented for his USA trilogy, but updates it in terms of the theory of media popularised by Marshall McLuhan The Jagged Orbit 1969 is set in a United States dominated by weapons proliferation and interracial violence, and has 100 numbered chapters varying in length from a single syllable to several pages in length The Sheep Look Up 1972 depicts ecological catastrophe in America Brunner is credited with coining the term worm and predicting the emergence of computer viruses in his 1975 novel The Shockwave Rider , in which he used the term to describe software which reproduces itself across a computer network Together with Stand on Zanzibar , these novels have been called the Club of Rome Quartet , named after the Club of Rome whose 1972 report The Limits to Growth warned of the dire effects of overpopulation.Brunner s pen names include K H Brunner, Gill Hunt, John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Ellis Quick, Henry Crosstrees Jr and Keith Woodcott.In addition to his fiction, Brunner wrote poetry and many unpaid articles in a variety of publications, particularly fanzines, but also 13 letters to the New Scientist and an article about the educational relevance of science fiction in Physics Education Brunner was an active member of the organisation Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and wrote the words to The H Bomb s Thunder , which was sung on the Aldermaston Marches.Brunner had an uneasy relationship with British new wave writers, who often considered him too American in his settings and themes He attempted to shift to a mainstream readership in the early 1980s, without success Before his death, most of his books had fallen out of print Brunner accused publishers of a conspiracy against him, although he was difficult to deal with his wife had handled his publishing relations before she died 2 Brunner s health began to decline in the 1980s and worsened with the death of his wife in 1986 He remarried, to Li Yi Tan, on 27 September 1991 He died of a heart attack in Glasgow on 25 August 1995, while attending the World Science Fiction Convention thereakaK H Brunner, Henry Crosstrees Jr, Gill Hunt with Dennis Hughes and E C Tubb , John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Keith WoodcottWinner of the ESFS Awards in 1980 as Best Author and 1n 1984 as Novelist

574 thoughts on “Interstellar Empire”

The question I kept asking was whether the entire premise, the fallen interstellar empire and the leftover spaceships of a lost nonhuman civilization, was even necessary Only The Altar on Asconel relied on it The Man From the Big Dark paid lip service to the idea while remaining planetside for the entire thing, and the unfortunately named The Wanton of Argus strained at its genre, wanting desperately to be sword and sorcery probably to its benefit, if not for a flimsy and outr ending Wanton , de [...]

Three short novelas linked together by taking place in a common future instellar empire A once powerful human empire that survived off the use of spaceships from a long gone instellar race is in serious decline.The stories are not particularly memorable, but could make for a pleasant read In the first, and longest one, brothers join forces to retrieve their home planet from the clutches of mysteriously evil rulers In the second, a space captain helps defend a planet from pillage and sacking In t [...]

1979 Grade A.2015 Grade B see below This is composed of three different stories related to the same basic universe and situation but not to each other The universe is post collapse of a galactic empire with pirates and mutants on the outer rim, feudal planets a bit farther in, and the fragmented, nonfunctional, tattered remnants of the empire at the core 1 Alter On Asconel, 130 pages, grade A This is a space opera which travels to half a dozen planets and is quite a bit of fun Very easy to read, [...]

oh, the joys of cheesy sci fi from a simpler time Brunner ought to be as well known as Aasimov, Heinlein and Arthur C Clarke he s just as important This particular book is sort of silly and moralizing a la Heinlein, but Brunner s Stand on Zanzibar remains one of the most important works of fiction that no one knows about.

The author plays with some interesting ideas, but the unpleasantness of the stories above all, of the characters left a sour taste in my mouth Too much cruelty, even from the supposed heroes not recommended.